The courage to find me

Chapter 6: Are there new lands?

POV Link

"LINK! LONG TIME NO SEE! HOW HAVE YOU BEEN?" Sidon greets us with his usual enthusiasm.

He's still at the top of the stairs in Zora's Domain, but quickly runs down to meet us. I chuckle, as I do every time we meet.

"And who's with you...? It can't be... PRINCESS ZELDA?" he yells, excitedly.

Zelda looks slightly uncomfortable with all the... animation. She tries to recognize him, which makes sense considering he was still a child the last time they met.

The Zora are an aquatic species, but they can live on land. Their lifespan is absurdly longer than that of hylians or even Sheikah. Sidon is over 130 years old, but his species matures very slowly, so he's still at the beginning of his adulthood. The last time he and Zelda met, despite being over 30 years old, he had just learned to walk and was a third of our height. Today, he is almost twice our size.

Sidon is the prince of the Zora. His older sister, Mipha, was on our team of Champions in the fight against the Calamity. When everything happened, she was, unfortunately, one of the fatalities. Mipha was responsible for piloting the Divine Beast Vah Ruta. Each of the four tribes of Hyrule had its own Beast. They were gigantic machines, shaped like animals, built to aid in the fight against Ganon.

Their construction wasn't in our time, but during the Calamity that happened 10,000 years before ours. In that war, the Beasts, along with the Guardians, were essential in defeating Ganon easily and with few casualties. However, he learned from that event. So, when it was our turn, the first thing he did upon awakening was to invade and corrupt all these machines with his demonic energy. The Guardians turned against us and destroyed cities, leaving thousands dead in their wake. In each of the Divine Beasts, Ganon conjured a different demon. And the Champions, who were trapped inside them at that moment... died.

One of the stages of my mission to defeat the Calamity was precisely to infiltrate each of them and defeat the monstrosities created by Ganon, regaining control of them. That's when I "met" Sidon—since at that time I was still suffering from amnesia—and he helped me access the Beast of the Zora domain: the gigantic elephant Vah Ruta.

We got along immediately. His constant cheerfulness and unwavering optimism helped me through those difficult weeks. Today, I consider him a great friend and ally.

Zelda finally recognizes him, and her eyes shine with joy, but she quickly withdraws. She still feels guilty about Mipha's death and was anxious about meeting King Dorephan, her father. She probably hadn't anticipated also having to deal with her brother.

"Sidon... You've grown so much!" she says, awkwardly.

"And you haven't changed AT ALL!" Sidon responds, animated. "You look EXACTLY as I remember! HOW AMAZING IS THAT? Come on, let's go up to the throne room! Dad MUST SEE YOU!"

"Room" is an interesting term, considering Zora's Domain is completely open, built over a water-filled region, and consists of various platforms connected by bridges or stairs.

Seeing how Zelda is disconcerted by Sidon's energy, I try to change the subject as we go upwards.

"We heard Vah Ruta is malfunctioning. Do you know what's wrong?" I ask.

"Oh, yes, yes. It seems it's actually out of... power? Honestly, Link, I have no idea how these Sheikah technologies work or what powers them. I think it's just running out of fuel," he says, laughing.

I exchange a worried glance with Zelda. It's not the first time we've noticed something happening with all constructions using ancient Sheikah technology. Since the Calamity was defeated, we haven't been able to use the teleportation function between Sheikah Towers. The Sheikah Shrines are also inaccessible. Of all the Runes on the Sheikah Slate—the touch-responsive device we used for various functions, including said teleportation—only the camera still works fine.